Man, I sounded opinionated there in my last post!* One thing to note, in all seriousness, you use words like depressed, bored etc. and your sign in name isn't excactly cheerful....you don't think you might be suffering from any sort of depression, do you?* Depression is very serious and can make even a good situation in life seem bad.* We're just a bunch of people on the internet, maybe talking to someone in confidence just to clear up that possibility is in order before you start fixing things that aren't broken.* Have a good one and welcome.

Hi Laurence,

I just feel lost because I've been working at a job that I knew from the beginning that I didn't like, but took it out of necessity. I was laid off a month before closing on my apartment and took the first job that hired me. From then, I've applied to several jobs but haven't been successful. I am frustrated at myself for getting too comfortable at the current situation. Sometimes, there are some interesting tasks at work. But, often, I'm just running queries and making excel charts. The work doesn't excite me.

Gravesend... that's just the section of brooklyn, ny where i grew up...

My gf and my family all gave me different advice. some tell me to stick it out and some tell me to just look for new work. i just don't know how to or if i can give up the 85k paycheck.

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Howdy Gravesend. I'm a 28 year youngin who is also in a 'burn-out' type job (working for my father's construction company). Pay is awesome, but stress is unreal, and my personality type isn't handling it too well.

I'm starting a part-time MBA this fall. I'd recommend that you look at it as well. A few comments on that:

1) MBA* programs - don't forget that there are multiple areas of concentration for MBAs, not just finance. Why not try a Finance AND another area (one that interests you) for concentrations? Although I fantasize about numbers day and night (hey, I didn't say what those numbers represented, did I? ), perhaps being a hands-on type might incline you more towards general management or production? Coupled with a finance concentration, a GM focus would be pretty good. At any rate, go to an information session and ask some questions.

3) As others have said, a, 85k/year salary is damn good for a 28-year old with your net worth. I'm in a somewhat similar financial position, and don't need too many more years of it before I get soooooo close to FIRE that I can taste the smoke. However, rather than the stress and aggrivations that I have, you seem to be more bored at your job and feel overpaid. Don't worry about the overpaid bit - I felt that way when I first started working out of college, and I soon realized that I wasn't overpaid for what I did (especially considering the uncompensated overtime I put in). If your employer is paying you that much, they obviously derive more benefit from you than they are paying you - if you truly weren't worth it, you woudln't have a job anymore. Our goal is FIRE - which will be pretty damn sweet once we get there. If the journey in our jobs to FIRE were just as enjoyable as FIRE, then we would never have a need to retire, would we? Just a few words of encouragement to help make the days more palatable and enjoyable.

If you're really that bored, ask someone if there's something you could help them with, since you just finished up a task and had a little free time for the next one to be assigned to you. Might open the door to a few friendships AND make the day more interesting/enjoyable.

So, my advice would be to start a part-time MBA program, keep your job at the bank, and see what types of offers you get in 2-3 years when you get your degree. Compare it to your current job, and see how it looks.

WARNING: Some MBA programs (such as Washington University in St. Louis) have a policy of NOT providing career search assistance to employees who's employers pay for part/all of their tution. They claim that they aren't looking out for your employer's best interest. So, just one little tidbit to check out when you look into B-schools.

peter76,

thank you for sharing your experience with me. i needed to hear from someone who's going through what i'm going through. what do you plan to major in your mba program?

the feeling about the job is that i don't know if i can fake my way to FIRE. I'd want to earn my way there.. or getting there in a more meaningful way.

also, not that getting where i am financially isn't meaningful, but i feel that i've just been somewhat lucky.

This is a little unusual.* Most of the people on this board hate going to the office because they have a particularly ugly job (involving explosives or firearms or wild weasels or hazardous waste) or else a particularly nasty boss.* Few are well-paid to be neglected and ignored.* It sounds like the dream career!

But I guess you have several choices.* You can feel depressed about going to the office, you can set goals for yourself that make you feel happier about going to the office, or you can figure out a way to earn a living without going to that office.* But feeling depressed about going to the office is ultimately your choice, and within your control to change.* And if you feel like a fake, then figure out where you're faking it and try to learn how to do it "for real".* But many, me included, have built entire careers out of faking it-- by being the one-eyed man in the valley of the blind.*

Anyone who lives their life without hurting others, who saves responsibly to support themselves for the rest of their lives, and even who spends their paychecks to boost the economy is contributing to society.* If you want to make a more concrete contribution then start donating your money and your time to the charity of your choice.

You can read dozens of stories about "washed-up old pharts" who didn't even hit their strides until their 60s. You're not even 28 yet for goshsakes and you're certainly not insolvent.* Lighten up a little and find something that captures your interest.* Pursue HFWR's advice, or go get some other variety of a good workout!

I know i gotta chill! And yes, i've read that book.. which makes me want to break away from the comfortable 85k even more! the best story in that book is about the man who's bigger picture was to help his people become more self-reliant. i still haven't figured out what my calling is... and i feel like i am just wasting my time now.

LOTS of people are faking it.* Faking credentials, experience, "working", you name it.* You've heard of the 80/20 rule?* 80 percent of the work is done by 20 percent of the people?* I've found that to be a good rule of thumb.* I came up through the ranks of a large corporate data center.* You would not believe the slackers and dolts that get promoted to ever higher *technical* jobs.* Idiots getting promoted to management I can rationalize.* But technical jobs?* Where it's obvious if you know it or not?* Baffling.* The only thing I can think of is that we aren't an IT company but we have a large IT organization and infrastructure so we need somebody and the MIT grads aren't exactly beating down the door.

Sounds like you've got golden handcuffs;* too much money to walk away from an unfulfilling job.* Been there, done that, still there.* Are you married or have kids?* If not you still have a lot of flexibility.* Personally, if it were me, I'd find something else and take the hit.* I didn't pull that trigger when I could have and now I'm really handcuffed.* Good luck.

The 80/20 rule works in many venues. For example, 20% of the fisherman catch 80%
of the fish.

Fake it, fake it, fake it. I knew a guy at MegaCorp who was very good about that. He did his mandatory hours, saluted to every silly campaign the corp brought down, saved his money, and pursued his hobby. He had a life outside of MegaCorp, in fact he was a brilliant photographer. Went to and put on shows. He's retired now, and he still puts on shows. While he was working, you would never get a cross word out of him concerning the corp. Now that he's out, he does admit that some of us were just not as necessary as we thought. Hmmm. He faked it .

I have completed my MBA and still been doing the same kind of work (firmware development). It's more interesting than management or marketing but at lower pay. Therefore, one should be certain before enrollment - time is a terrible thing to waste!

Spanky

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May we live in peace and harmony and be free from all human sufferings.

Get there however you can, and BTW is there something shameful about just being lucky? I thought lucky was a good thing.

JG

I agree, a lot of good things in life involve luck, but you have to put yourself in a position to take advantage of luck, and I bet there was more work involved than you are letting on. No amount of luck is going to land a crack head an 85k job, so don't beat yourself up that you make ten grand more than some peers!

Pretending you like something so you'll get the money has other names. One is 'prostitution'. Tread carefully and make sure you remember that you're making that tradeoff because if you forget...well the names dont get prettier...

__________________

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Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.

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